Text messages between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page in 2016 that have been obtained by Fox News refer to then-candidate Donald Trump as a “loathsome human” and “an idiot.”
More than 10,000 texts between Strzok and Page were being reviewed by the Justice Department after Strzok was removed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe after it was revealed that some of them contained anti-Trump content.
The messages obtained by Fox News were sent during the 2016 campaign and contain multiple discussions about various candidates. On March 2, Strzok texted Page that someone “asked me who I’d vote for, guessed[Ohio Gov. John] Kasich.”
“Seriously?! Would you not [vote] D[emocrat]?” Page responded.
“I don’t know,” Strzok answered. “I suppose Hillary.”
“I would [vote] D,” Page affirmed.
Two days later, Page texted Strzok: “God, Trump is a loathsome human.”
“Yet he many[sic] win,” Strzok responded. “Good for Hillary.”
Later the same day, Strzok texted Page, “Omg [Trump’s] an idiot.”
“He’s awful,” Page answered.
“America will get what the voting public deserves,” said Strzok, to which Page responded. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Later that same day, Strzok texted Page, “Ok I may vote for Trump.”
“What?” answered Page. “Poor Kasich. He’s the only sensible man up there.”
“He was pretty much calling for death for [NSA leaker] Edward Snowden,” Strzok said. “I’m a single-issue voter. 😉 Espionage Machine Party.”
Strzok later told Page, “Exacty re Kasich. And he has ZERO appeal.”
Twelve days later, after Trump took a commanding lead in the Republican delegate race with victories in key “Super Tuesday” primaries, Page texted Strzok, “I can not believe Donald Trump is likely to be an actual, serious candidate for president.”
Strzok, who was an FBI counterintelligence agent, was reassigned to the FBI’s human resources division after the discovery of the exchanges with Page, with whom he was having an affair. Page was briefly on Mueller’s team, but since has returned to the FBI.
The messages also referenced other candidates, including Democrat Martin O’Malley, whom Strzok called “a freak show.”
“Yikes Baby! Yeah, that’s what everyone says,” Page answered.
Fox News’ Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
